The Odd One
by PsychicEevee0103
Summary: This follows the life of a single Eevee that is destined for greatness. The only things she can say for sure about herself are her name and that she has a golden coat. Rated T 'cause I'm paranoid. *Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, never have, most likely never will. OC-centric, don't like don't read!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:**

 **PsychicEevee: Hello! Welcome to the rewrite of my old story 'The Time After'! I've been thinking about rewriting it for a long time now, but I've decided recently that I'm going to rebuild this story from the ground up, since a lot of the basic elements of the story I decided on when I was younger, like how Flame was. I've decided to replace him, since I realized that he (and Cloudy, but I've rounded her out) was really not that great a character.**

 **I've also decided to rebuild the world, since I don't know if I want to keep the story in the anime universe. I think I might keep it in the anime-verse, but I might or might now have Ash in it.**

 **Let's get to it then!**

A single Eevee raced through the forest. She didn't look to see where she was going; she just knew that she had to get away, fast. Her mother's words echoed in her ears: "We'll find you when we can. Just keep moving." She kept loping along, though she flinched every few seconds as the deep purple color on her cheeks flared.

Eventually Tay, the small Eevee, started to slow down, unable to keep up her pace due to both pain and inexperience, for that Eevee was very young. She kept going, staggering whenever the purple flared. Eventually her vision began to blur, but she still kept going.

Eventually Tay tripped over her own paws and fell. She tried to get up, but found she couldn't move.

"I'm... sorry... mama..." she muttered before closing her eyes and falling asleep.

A tall Pokemon was picking Nanab berries from a small grove of trees. He was mostly black and blue, with some sort of ornaments dangling from its head and red eyes. Once he was satisfied he left that area, heading back to his home. On his way he tripped over something. He looked behind him, expecting to see a rock he'd forgotten was there. Imagine his surprise when he saw a tiny golden Pokemon lying on the ground. It didn't look like it was breathing.

The Pokemon closed his eyes to honor the Pokemon. Automatically his aura vision came up. The Pokemon expected to see the Pokemon appear as an auraless object, but instead saw a very weak aura in it. He reacted quickly, putting aside the berries (he could always gather more later) and scooped up the Pokemon. He ran the rest of the way home.

When he arrived he met up with his mate, a somewhat shorter, pink and cream colored Pokemon was waiting with an Egg. She looked up as the Pokemon entered.

"You're back early, Lucario," she commented.

"I found someone that needs help," Lucario set the Pokemon in his arms down in front of the Pokemon.

"Oh my! what happened?" she asked, looking over it quickly.

"I don't know, Audino," Lucario replied. "I was on my way back when I literally stumbled over it."

"I think I can help it recover from its injuries physically, but it looks so young..." Audino trailed off after the last part. She started to treat the Pokemon, first casting a pale green light on it until the purple tint in its cheeks faded, then casting a pink beam of light over it. "That ought to heal the poison and injuries, but it'll still have to rest a while longer to gain back its energy."

"That's good," Lucario nodded and gave a small smile.

 **A/N:**

 **PsychicEevee: Well, that's that. I'm probably going to have shorter chapters from now on, with only either one moderate length scene or multiple shorter ones. That might change in the future, though.**

 **Don't forget to review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:**

 **PsychicEevee: Hello! It must be Christmas in May, since I'm posting the second chapter the day right after the first! Don't expect as frequent updates, though. I'm only posting this now because i'm sick and I have to stay home from school because of it... I'm super bored and I'm hoping for a review on here, so please?**

 **Let's get to it!**

Tay woke up without opening her eyes. She picked up some sounds from around her. _Mama? Papa?_ She thought. There were voices.

"I hope it'll be okay." The voice was gruff, though betrayed a softer side.

"I healed it, though it might have emotional scars," the other voice was soft and quiet. "It looks young, and going through that must not have been very good for its development." _Not Mama and Papa,_ Tay concluded. _They must be bad, all aside from Mama and Papa are bad, but they talk nice. I don't know..._ With that she opened her eyes, groaning as the sunlight got into them.

"Is it waking up?"

"I think it is."

The voices came from two Pokemon. One was dark, the other light. The thing that stood out to Tay was that they both stood like humans.

"Who... are... you?" Tay murmured as she attempted to stand up.

The lighter Pokemon beamed. "You're awake!" She gently held Tay down. "You still need to rest." Tay looked at her, but stopped moving. When the Pokemon stopped holding her she laid back down. "My name is Audino, little Eevee."

"I am Lucario." the darker Pokemon added. "I found you and brought you here."

"H-hello," Tay gave a smile. "I'm Tay."

"You were badly hurt, Tay," Audino informed the tiny Eevee. "What happened to you?"

"Me and Mama and Papa were attacked by mean humans and Pokemon," Tay murmured. "We were all hurt bad. Mama told me to run, so I did. I tripped and fell asleep. I woke up here."

"Poor thing!" Audino exclaimed. "You've gone through so much, and you're so young!" She paused for a moment. "Just how old are you, anyway?"

Tay thought for a moment. "Six days," She answered honestly. Both of the Pokemon's jaws dropped.

"You're six days old, and you've gone through so much?!" Audino exclaimed, gently hugging Tay to comfort her, for the golden Eevee had began to tear up while talking about what had happened.

"I'm gonna go mad soon!" an Umbreon muttered, staring at a closed door like he expected it to melt under the glare. "We're shut up in here while we recover, and poor Tay's out there, poisoned, injured, alone, and more likely than not scared out of her mind!"

"I know, Yoru," a Vaporeon said, trying (and failing) to sound reassuring. "But Angie and Ben only have the best motives. You know that."

"Yes, for us maybe," Yoru managed to get through clenched teeth. "But they're not thinking about Tay! She was hurt, it's been a week, and we're not looking for her!"

The Vaporeon was silent, but inside she wholeheartedly agreed with Yoru. _Angie told me that they're searching for Tay while Yoru and I recover, but I should be out there. After all, that's MY daughter, and it's MY fault she's out there. I was the one that told her to run, that I'd find her later. It's been a WEEK since we last saw her. For all we know, she could be captured, or worse. I have to look for her._ With that she stood up from where she had been lying down on a bed.

"Cloudy? What's up?" Yoru asked.

"Let's go." Cloudy's response was short and clipped.

Yoru's mouth curved into a smile. "You finally come to your senses?"

"You could say that," Cloudy replied as she looked at the window. She paused. "Yoru, you know Psychic, right?"

"But of course," he smirked, using it to open the latch and slide the window open enough for the two of them. "Ladies first." Cloudy slipped through the open window. Yoru followed, releasing his hold on the window when his tail was through. There was a small thud, and the two Eeveelutions raced away.

 **A/N:**

 **PsychicEevee: Well, that about wraps that up. Now you know who I chose to replace Flame with, though Cloudy's staying. I might put Flame back in later on, but in a different role.**

 **Edit: I fixed a lot of the dialogue. I accidentally left Poke-speech not underlined a lot of the time, and I've fixed that now.**

 **Don't forget to review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:**

 **PsychicEevee: I must be spoiling you guys! THREE chapters in TWO days?! This is only going to be this fast for a little while, since the only reason why I'm doing it is because I'm sick, and I'm bored. And one more thing. One of the characters I'm using here isn't mine. I got permission from Riolu16 to use the character Damian the Riolu. Enjoy!**

It was a few days since Tay had woken up and met Audino and Lucario. They were letting Tay stay with them, and Tay was playing in the open space not far from the entrance of the den when there was a glow from inside.

"What's that?" she murmured to herself, childish curiosity taking over as she trotted to the den and went inside. Lucario, who had been watching, followed.

Inside, Audino had been standing up as if to get Lucario. The Egg was glowing brightly, flashing as if to give a signal or message.

"Good, you're here!" Audino sighed in relief. "I was about to get you."

"Tay saw the glowing and went to investigate," Lucario replied gruffly.

"Audino, Lucario, what's going on?" Tay asked, tilting her head to one side.

"The Egg's hatching," Lucario explained simply as he got in front of it.

The Egg glowed again, but this time it shifted shape as it did. It grew to being a bipedal Pokemon that highly resembled Lucaio, but it was much shorter, and was lacking the spikes.

"Hi mom, dad!" the Pokemon, a male by the voice, smiled at Lucario and Audino.

"Hello, Damian," Lucario greeted, naming the newly hatched Pokemon.

"Hi, Damian!" Tay came up to the newborn Pokemon. "Wanna play?"

"Sure!" the Riolu exclaimed. The two of them turned and were about to go out when they heard an explosion. Lucario jolted up.

"Kids, you wait here," Audino instructed. Tay and Damian nodded quickly. Lucario and Audino slowly and silently crept out of the tree hollow that was their home. Tay and Damian waited silently. There were noises, humans talking, and more noises.

Damian looked out. "Mom... Dad..." he whispered. Tay looked at him. There were scuffling sounds and shouts from Lucario and Audino.

At one particularly long and loud scream Damian's head snapped up. "I need to help Mom and Dad!" He started to run out. Tay tried to stop him, but the little Riolu was very stubborn. He dodged Tay's attempts to stop him, and darted out. Tay unwillingly followed.

There were several large, male humans, with huge, battle-scarred Pokemon. Audino and Lucario were both badly hurt, but the humans' gaze was no longer on the downed Pokemon. Instead, Tay found herself the center of the poachers' attention.

"Lookie that!" one of them exclaimed. "Didn't someone in the circuit mention failing to capture a golden Eevee?"

"That they did," one of the others exclaimed. "Imagine what we can get for it!"

Tay heard some of it. She didn't understand all of it, but she understood one thing. She turned to Damian. "Listen, Damian. I think those humans are saying that they're more interested in me than you and your mom and dad."

"What do you mean?" Damian asked, eyes wide.

"Damian, I'm going to run away. Hopefully the humans will go after me, and you can get Lucario and Audino to safety," Tay explained.

"B-but, what about you?" Damian whispered.

"I'll be okay," Tay assured. "'Bye, Damian... We'll see each other again someday, I'm sure of it!" With that, the golden Eevee flicked her tail and raced out, shouting incoherently to get the humans' attention and racing away.

Tears streamed down her face as Tay raced away. She heard the humans shouting to go after her, so she pumped her little legs as fast as she could. _Goodbye Lucario, Audino, Damian... I'll never forget you, I promise. Just as I'll never forget Mama and Papa._

Tay ran, and ran, and ran. She ran until she was completely spent, at which point she crawled into a small hole in the tangled roots of a tree to hide and listen for the humans. There was nothing except for the friendly chatter of Pokemon. She struggled to stay awake, wanting to stay on guard in case the poachers came back. However, soon her fatigue got the best of her, and she fell asleep.

 **A/N:**

 **PsychicEeveeL Well, that just about wraps things up for this chapter. As I mentioned earlier, Damian is NOT my OC. He is Riolu16's, and I only got permission to use him. And yes, we will see him again, just a lot later on.  
**

 **Don't forget to review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**PsychicEevee: Hello... yes I realize it's been forever... school was busy recently, but now I'm okay because I don't have to go there ever again unless I want to! Hopefully I'll be able to write faster, which means I can update faster! *knocks on wood* Anyway, here are my responses to reviews!**

 **Riolu16: Thanks! I decided to show Tay from a much younger age in this story compared to the old one, so she's a lot more innocent, at least for now. And of course I put Damian in this story. I said I would, after all! Unfortunately, don't expect him to play a major part, at least for now.**

 **Vryzz: Thanks! The first bit of the story's been the same for ages, but this is the first time I elaborated on how it was for Tay growing up.**

 **Let's get to it!**

Tay woke up the next day, extremely stiff and sore. She looked back for a moment at where she had come from.

"I hope Lucario, Audino, and Damian are okay..." she murmured to herself. "I think my running off did what I wanted, but if it didn't, they're in big trouble." She turned back around, though, and kept walking, hoping to eventually find food. She eventually came to a tree with familiar-looking berries. They were round, with a point on the bottom, and they were light pink and very sweet and tasty. The problem was, they were very high up, and she didn't have the energy to jump up to get them herself. She saw a Pokemon nearby. It was brown, and a weird round shape. It was sitting in a tree, and Tay could see stubby wings on it. She looked at the Pokemon.

"Hello!" she called. The Pokemon looked at her.

"What do you want?" the Pokemon, a Hoothoot, asked.

"Could you help me get some of those berries over there?" Tay asked, pointing to the Pecha berry tree with her tail.

"Why not," the Hoothoot replied. It flew up and used Air Slash on a few branches laden with berries. They dropped down.

Tay ran over to the berries and faced the Hoothoot. "Thank you very much!" She beamed before taking the branches in her mouth and setting off. She found a good size hollow in the ground and went into that to eat. She quickly ate the sweet berries that reminded her of her Mama and Papa.

The days passed. Tay wandered, regained her strength slowly, and started searching for her parents. With them, they were about to meet someone Tay loved.

"Are you sure you followed her scent to here?" Cloudy asked Yoru.

"It's very faint, sure," Yoru commented. He was an expert tracker, and even when the scent was long faded to most he could detect and follow it. "But it's definitely there."

They were walking, but they slowly reached a large clearing with a huge tree in the center. Yoru smelled the air. "Tay spent a good amount of time here. Her scent's a lot fresher here," he commented. He walked up to the huge tree. Cloudy just then noticed a hollow right in the middle of it.

Yoru walked straight up to the hollow and called, "Hello? Is anyone there?" There was silence for a moment, but then red eyes shone from the darkness.

Lucario had been resting from the battle against the human poachers when he heard a call from outside.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

Lucario carefully detangled himself from his family. He used his aura vision to see if the owner of the voice was a threat. He saw two aura signatures, both belonging to Pokemon, outside the hollow. However, he saw no signs of malice from either. All that was there was worry and compassion. He went right inside the hollow first, to see the visitors without being seen all the way himself.

Sure enough, outside there were two Pokemon. The one closer to the hollow (presumably the one that had shouted) was an Umbreon, and the one further away was a Vaporeon. He activated his aura vision again for a moment to confirm that these were the Pokemon he'd sensed before, and indeed they were. The Umbreon locked eyes with Lucario.

"Please, we mean no harm," the Vaporeon, a female, implored, looking up pleadingly. "We're just looking for our missing daughter, and suspect she passed through here a little while ago."

Lucario came out of the hollow. "Is your daughter an Eevee?"

"Yes, very distinctive too, she's very small and is an odd color." The Vaporeon nodded.

"An unusually small oddly colored Eevee..." Lucario's eyes widened. "Yes, if her name's Tay, I know her very well!"

"You know our little Tay?" the Umbreon asked. "Is she okay? Do you know where she is? Can you take us to her?"

"Unfortunately, I cannot answer all of those questions," Lucario replied stoically. "We were separated a few days ago, when humans attacked this area. Your daughter is very brave. She led the humans away so my family and I would be safe. This means that I do not know her condition or location, and I cannot take you to her."

"That's a shame, but at least we know we're on the right track," the Vaporeon gave a small, shaky smile. "Thank you so much for the help."

"It was no problem," Lucario said, crossing his arms as the Pokemon that apparently were Tay's parents went off.

Even as Tay searched for her parents and vice versa, the two parties found themselves still separated as the months passed. Tay managed to avoid Trainers and poachers; though she still wasn't very strong, the golden Eevee was FAST. She tried to stay away from human areas; ending up somewhere that the Pokemon near there claimed was a 'Pokemon Preserve', which meant that humans weren't allowed to catch Pokemon there. She decided to stay there for a while. Tay lived a quiet life there for a while, but wherever things are banned is exactly where those things happen.

Sure enough, one day a woman came to where Tay was living. She was small and lithe, with pale skin and very dark hair and eyes: very pretty for a human female. She looked at Tay, who was using Tackle on a Nanab tree to get berries to drop down.

"Seems I found me a goldmine," the woman smirked, taking out a Pokeball. "Go Luxray!" She threw it, and in a flash of bright light a blue and black Pokemon with golden eyes appeared.

"What do you wish mistress?" it said as if it were hypnotized.

"Target: Eevee. Goal: capture. Go!" she ordered, and it lunged at Tay, its teeth crackling with electricity. It bit into Tay, who screamed as electricity coursed through her veins. She replied by Biting down on Luxray herself. It cried out in pain, but only increased the amount of power in its Thunder Fang. Tay eventually had to stop her attack as she lost control of her body from the pain and the paralysis from the Thunder Fang.

Just then, though, the Luxray was pushed away from her, surrounded by a blue aura. Tay knew by now that something like that was generally done by a psychic Pokemon, so she looked around for the source but found nothing.

Instead, she saw the human looking at her with wide eyes and an open mouth. "How is that Eevee doing that? It's not supposed to be able to use Psychic until it evolves into Espeon, or maybe Umbreon! But no, this EEVEE can use Psychic!" She returned the Luxray. "Well then, I guess I'll just have to use a different Pokemon, now that I know..." She took out a different Pokeball. "Get it, Scrafty!"

A reddish, orangish, brownish Pokemon appeared. "I will obey my mistress' wishes."

"Get that Eevee, but be careful; it might or might not be a threat." the female poacher commanded.

"Yes mistress," Scrafty murmured, charging at Tay with a High Jump Kick. Tay dodged, darting quickly to the side. Scrafty landed hard on its knee, but Tay didn't focus on that. She just rammed into it with a Tackle, which managed to hit, but didn't do any serious damage. Unfortunately, Tay was then in the perfect striking range for a super effective Karate Chop from Scrafty. It connected solidly with Tay's chest, and the golden Eevee was sent skidding away.

"Perfect," the woman smirked, shooting a missile that expanded into a net at Tay. The Eevee was entangled and trapped. She growled at the poacher as she collected her prize, but there was nothing she could do, especially once she was dumped into a cage.

Days passed, then weeks, then months. No human was buying Tay, seeing how she was so rare and apparently so expensive. She hadn't gotten used to life in her cage, but she didn't try to Bite any human that came too close anymore, after a couple beatings from the woman and her Pokemon.

A human was surveying the Pokemon then. He was male, and had olive skin and dark hair. The man had one of the goons that worked for the poacher behind him, carrying a cage holding a normal looking Eevee. The man looked at Tay with a sneer, and Tay's blood ran cold. _I don't like where this is going..._ she thought, suppressing a shiver.

"How much for the golden Eevee?" the man asked, and Tay felt like she had ice in her veins instead of blood.

"Normally 3,000,000 yen, but for someone like you I'm willing to cut the price in half to 1,500,000 yen." the woman, who had been overseeing this, replied.

"1,500,000 yen?!" the man shouted. "Are you sure you don't have any other Eevees?"

"Yes, I'm sure. The Eevee you're purchasing and the golden one are the only two we have." the woman was frowning by now.

"Then I guess I'll take it." the man grumbled, pulling out something small from his pocket and doing something with it. He ripped something out and passed it to the woman. Another goon picked up Tay's cage and followed the man as he went to a car to leave with his purchases.

Tay narrowed her eyes at the man as she was taken out of her cage. She didn't attack him because the poacher's beatings had taught her one thing: attacking humans only lead to getting punished. The man put a red ribbon on her before putting her in a plain box with tiny holes in it. He closed the box so that Tay wouldn't get out.

"Be absolutely silent, Eevee," he whispered harshly to her.

Tay watched as the man did the same thing for the other Eevee, except he put a blue ribbon on it and was a lot gentler with asking it to "Please be quiet for a little while, okay?"

The golden Eevee watched from one of the air holes as the man hid the cages, then they started to wait. To pass the time she looked at her surroundings. She was in a bright room. She saw the floor a distance away, so she reasoned she was somewhere high.

A long while later Tay heard a thud from s distance away. There were more footsteps, and another thud. A soft voice called out, "Honey? Where are you?"

"I'm in the living room Carol!" the man replied, walking out for a moment. When he went back in Tay peered through one of the air holes and saw that he was now accompanied by a female human with curly blonde hair.

"Gifts, John?" the woman nearly squealed.

"Two Pokemon," the man, John, replied. "One for each of us. Yours is that one," he pointed towards Tay and her box. The woman approached and opened the box. Tay looked up at her once the top was gone.

"An Eevee?" Carol exclaimed, picking Tay up. "But... why is it gold? Aren't Eevees normally brown?"

"Yes, but I decided on this one to represent how my love for you is even rarer than a Shiny Pokemon," John explained, hesitating for only a moment.

"Aww, how sweet," Carol exclaimed, petting Tay as she held her. "And that little ribbon is absolutely adorable!" the woman thought for a moment. "But if I got an Eevee, what did you get for yourself?"

"Let me show you," the man smiled, taking the other Eevee out of its box.

"What cuties!" this time the woman did squeal, causing Tay to go temporarily deaf from the noise. When she recovered she heard the woman saying, "I think I'll name mine Ora." Tay sighed. _Humans don't seem able to understand Pokemon, so there's no point in trying to say anything..._

Tay watched the humans interact with each other and the other Eevee, which the man started calling Cyan (after the color of its (his) ribbon), and her, though she didn't react. Eventually they seemed done with the fussing, so Tay went away, wandering what was apparently where she lived now. It was neat and orderly, but huge! She stopped after about five rooms and hid underneath a set of drawers her tiny body could fit under. She eventually fell asleep from the exhaustion of all that had happened.

 **PsychicEevee: This starts a segment that is relatively short (or at least I think it'll be; I'm still writing it out). Anyway, don't forget to review, and I'll see you next time!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:**

 **PsychicEevee: Hello, sorry for not updating. One would've thought I'd get more done over the summer, but instead I've barely typed at all. I'm actually posting this to celebrate my getting a new laptop. Technically I've had it for two days now, but I'm not completely set up yet, only with the Internet and an antivirus installed. Luckily it comes with a document processing system so I can get this up, but some of the formatting might be wrong because it reset all of that. I had to manually go back and redo all of it that I could foind.**

 **And nope, no reviews... well, what else is to be expected...**

 **Let's start!**

When Tay woke up again, she was in an empty room, and back in her cage. She made a tiny noise of confusion.  
"Was it a dream? No... I don't hear anything else," she muttered. "Then why...?"  
"You're a lot of trouble, little Ora," a voice cut in. Tay was unresponsive at first, before remembering that to the humans Ora was her name. She looked up to see the male human who had bought her, John. Beside him, looking prim and proud, was Cyan, the Eevee that had been bought at the same time as her. "Wandering off like that... that there's a no-no. Because of that you need to get punished, and what better way is there than to have Cyan here administer the punishment?" Cyan smirked as John opened Tay's cage and forced her out. "Cyan, time to let out some stress!" The normal Eevee happily complied, rushing at Tay, leaving a streak of white behind him. Tay tried to dodge, but was clipped in the side anyway. She retaliated with a Bite, but she was too slow as he sent a wave of star-shaped energy at her. She was thrown back.  
"Gah..." Tay groaned. "Why do you obey him like that? He's probably bad; after all, all humans are bad!"  
"I was there for YEARS little Ora," Cyan growled, rushing at Tay with a Tackle. "I was stuck in that small cage ALL MY FREAKING LIFE until John bought us! I WILL serve him with my life!" Tay was hit by that Tackle.  
Tay was beaten horribly from there. She occasionally attempted to fight back, but she tended to attempt to dodge more. Unfortunately, Cyan was usually too fast and hit Tay most of the time, not to mention the fact that Tay couldn't even land a single hit. Eventually Tay was blissfully unconscious.

More and more time passed. Tay lost count of the days she'd been trapped in the human home. She was getting desperate to be outside, but the humans seemed determined to keep her inside.  
On top of everything else, she was almost daily beaten by Cyan for some perceived wrong. Her body felt like one giant bruise, and her human owner, the woman, was completely oblivious to it since her long, fluffy fur hid her wounds. Eventually she just sort of left her body to do the 'allowed' things while her mind wandered. That first time, Cyan said he'd lived his whole life in that cage before John bought us. Does that mean that he doesn't know his parents? If so, I pity him. I only barely remember Mama and Papa, but that's better than not knowing them at all.  
Mama... Papa... do you still remember me? Are you still looking for me?  
She was broken out of her thoughts by Carol, the woman, calling what was to the humans her name. She trotted over to her while thinking, my name is not Ora. My name is Tay. I will not forget the name Mama gave me. She settled in Carol's lap as the woman began brushing Tay, something she did regularly. Tay resumed her thinking as she was brushed. After a while, though, she was startled out of them by a shout of surprise by Carol.  
"O-Ora!" she exclaimed, "Y-you're hurt!" Tay didn't say anything as she was picked up, having to force herself to stay limp. Carol continued to go on about taking Ora to the Pokemon Center, whatever that was, when John came over.  
"What's the matter?" he asked.  
"Do you know if Ora's been outside?" Carol asked.  
"I don't think she has," John replied.  
"Well, either that or she's been battling inside, because she's hurt!" Carol said, growing frantic. "I'm going to take her to the Pokemon Center."

Tay ignored the rest of the exchange, not noticing anything else until a welcome new scent flowed into her nostrils. Fresh air! I thought I'd never be outside again! Wait, something's... different...  
She was no longer in a green area; on the contrary, there was no green at all! It was grey as far as the eye could see. There was something wrong with the air, too; it FELT weird, like it was dirty or something. It smelled horrible, and Tay recoiled from it.  
"It's okay, Ora," Carol crooned, snuggling the golden Eevee closer to her chest. "It's big, but it isn't scary." She must've thought I'm scared of being outside, not this stinky air! Tay thought. She scowled at the air and the hard grey of her surroundings, wishing she was back in a forest where there was green everywhere and the air smelled good, as opposed to the smelly, disgusting stuff she was breathing right then. Even if I couldn't be in the forest again, I wish I were away from John and Cyan!  
Tay was carried a little while before Carol took her into a building with some sort of structure on top. Inside it was relatively simple, pale yellow walls and a tiled floor. At the other end of the room was a human woman with pink hair and a white hat with another symbol on it. A round pink Pokemon with a pouch holding a single white egg in it was nearby wearing the same hat.  
"Welcome to the Pokemon Center!" the pink-haired woman smiled. "How may I help you?"  
"I discovered that my Ora's hurt!" Carol exclaimed. "I don't know how, but I think it might've been battling!"  
"We'll heal your Eevee up right away," the woman promised, taking Tay from Carol. Tay stiffened. The woman stroked Tay, hoping to calm her down, but it was to no avail as she very thoroughly resisted. "Eevee, it's okay. We're going to help you," the woman tried to soothe; but again, it was useless. "I'll have to make you sleep if you don't relax Eevee," she said very sternly. Eevee growled.  
"Alright," the human sighed, maneuvering her arms so Tay was still secured, but was only being held in one hand as she reached for something. "Chansey, Sing."  
A Chansey appeared and began to sing sweetly. Tay couldn't focus on the words, though; she got so tired. Her eyes slowly drooped before she fell asleep.

When Tay woke up, she was back at the human place she was forced to call home. She was lying in the bed Carol had bought for her, and covered in a blanket. She recalled the place she'd been in, and the area where Carol had taken her through. Was it a dream? She got out of her bed, shook off the blanket, and went to the closest window, jumping up onto one of the seats installed by each window for her and Cyan. She looked through the window and searched the view for any green at all. None! So it wasn't a dream? She went around the house, looking out of every single window for any greenery at all. Still nothing... she thought as she jumped from the ledge of the final window, back in the room with her bed. She dragged her feet over to it, stumbled in, and closed her eyes. How can a place like this exist? How can anyone stand to live somewhere like this? Mama and Papa'll never think to find me here. The humans won't let me out, and they probably won't let Mama and Papa in. The golden Eevee whimpered as tears slipped out of her eyes.  
 **A/N:**

 **PsychicEevee: Well, that's that. Don't forget to review please maybe? *Lilipup eyes***


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:**

 **PsychicEevee: It's a miracle... I'm updating more than like twice a year!**

 **I finally got Word on my laptop, so I can work on the story... or not, since I have major writer's block. And I've gotten into a really fun roleplaying group, so I'll be busy with that for a while. And this is all I've prewritten, so it'll be a long time yet until I update again even once my writer's block is gone since I like to have some prewritten work.**

 **Well, I guess by now I'm used to no reviews since I can't really say I'm surprised about my reviews from last chapter or lack thereof.**

Two weeks passed. Tay refused to eat or move. Carol still groomed 'Ora', and she never protested. The woman might have been slightly ditsy, but she knew when something was wrong. Two weeks after her last visit to the Pokemon Center Carol took Ora back there.

"Hello," Nurse Joy smiled as Carol went in, clutching Tay in her arms. "What can I help you with today?"

"Ora's been acting oddly recently," Carol answered. "Ever since I last took her here, I haven't seen her move once and she won't eat unless I force-feed her."

"Oh dear," Nurse Joy frowned, taking the golden Pokemon from her owner. "That sounds more like a behavioral problem than anything else. I'll run a few tests and get back to you when I get the results."

Tay briefly registered various sensations over the next hour or so, but she ignored them just as she had everything else since she realized just how trapped she was. There were some pokes and prods, and she felt something be attached to her for a few minutes before being taken off. She was picked up and carried.

Someone said something, but Tay didn't listen. She registered more motion, but as it was she didn't care anymore. She just wanted to be away from that place, even if it meant leaving this world.

Once they returned Carol sat down with Ora on her lap, petting the tiny Pokemon absentmindedly. She recalled the conversation she had had with Nurse Joy when said nurse returned Ora.

( **Cue Flashback** )

 _"I've run a few tests on Eevee." Nurse Joy reported. "I found no sign of physical ailments, but I believe she has a behavioral disorder."_

 _"But what is it?" Carol asked._

 _"I believe she is suffering from depression." Nurse Joy responded. "Do you know Eevee's origins?"_

 _"No," Carol replied. "She was given to me as a present."_

 _"Then there are really two possibilities." Nurse Joy pondered. "Either she was bred in captivity or she was caught in the wild." She thought a moment more. "If she's only been acting this way since she was last outside two weeks ago, it's likely she's reacting like this because of something outside of your home."_

 _"That would be either the city or the Pokemon Center," Carol murmured._

 _"Wild Eevees are normally documented living in the forest," Nurse Joy thought a moment more. "Most likely at this point Eevee was caught from a forest. Being so young, it's unlikely she's lived in a city before now."_

 _"So what do you recommend?" Carol questioned._

 _"Take a trip with Eevee," Nurse Joy suggested. "That might revitalize her spirits."_

 _"Oh, that's a great idea! I've been meaning to take a vacation anyway," Carol smiled, petting Ora softly. As usual, she didn't respond._

( **Flashback End** )

"Where can I go so that Ora will be happy again?" she murmured. "Ah! I think I know."

Cloudy's tail drooped. She murmured to her mate, "We've been searching for six months now." _I don't know if we'll be able to find her..._ she thought.

Yoru must have sensed her thoughts because he replied, "If Tay's anything like her parents she'll be able to take care of herself."

"Yes, but we never trained her!" Cloudy's voice started to rise in pitch. "And she's an Eevee, the Pokemon humans will stop at nothing to catch! Being so special will be even more trouble for her!"

"Yes, but some of that may help her," Yoru tried to reason with the worried mother. "Remember what she did when we were separated?"

( **Cue Flashback** )

 _Many large Pokemon were crowded into a tiny basement. The Eeveelution family had been sheltering from the poachers in it, but they had been found. Cloudy and Yoru were fighting off the combatants as best they could, but they were simply too powerful, and they had the numerical and type advantages. Cloudy was cornered by a large cactus-like Pokemon called a Cacturne and Yoru was going up against a Tyranitar that could barely fit in the crowded area. The evolved Eeveelutions were struggling to beat their opponents, which were very powerful._

 _Cloudy had just used Shadow Ball to catch her opponent off-guard (though it didn't look like it did too much) when she saw the poachers' Pokemon that were surrounding Tay. They were two huge Golbats. Cloudy tried desperately to get around the Cacturne, but it used Energy Ball, firing a green orb that stopped the Vaporeon in her tracks. Cloudy tried desperately to get around her opponent, but she was simply outmaneuvered at every turn._

 _"_ _Tay!_ _" she shouted desperately, trying to communicate a message to her mate. However, it only succeeded in making her daughter turn her focus to her._

 _"_ _Mama?_ _" she asked. The Golbats took advantage of their target's distraction to swoop down and attack, using Poison Fang on the young Pokemon, followed up by numerous Wing Attacks. The Eevee went down, blocked from view for a moment as the Golbats attacked one final time before moving away._

 _"_ _Master, Eevee is ready for capture,_ _" one of them reported. The human was unable to understand completely, but he got the gist from the tiny Eevee, who was seemingly unconscious._

 _"Oh good, the Eevee's ready," he smirked, pulling out a device that looked like a gun. He shot out something that looked like a Spinarak's web. It approached Tay, covering her. It glowed with a fierce yellow light as it electrocuted the Eevee. She screamed, her voice going hoarse._

 _Eventually the net stopped glowing yellow and instead glowed blue. It slowly lifted off of Tay, who stood up and slowly, as if she were possessed, walked out from under it. She opened her eyes. The usually chocolate-colored eyes were glowing the exact shade as the net. When Tay was out from under it, the net stopped glowing and fell limply to the floor. For half a second Tay's eyes stopped glowing as well, but the glowing resumed as the two Golbat became surrounded in the aura instead. They were thrown against the walls and slid down, unconscious._

( **End Flashback** )

"Do I remember?" Cloudy asked rhetorically. "A better question would be how could I forget?"

"She was incredible, and I'm certain she can defend herself out there," Yoru smiled reassuringly.

Tay registered something, but she ignored it. She thought back to back when she had been with her parents, when those bad humans and Pokemon had attacked and she had done... something. She still didn't know what it was that she did, but it got that weird thing, that net, that covered her and hurt her off and got those mean Pokemon away from her. She frowned as she remembered when that female human had captured her. _I did that again then, whatever 'that' was,_ she thought, vaguely feeling some motion and subconsciously deciding Carol was carrying her somewhere. She continued her musings about whatever that weird power of hers was until she registered a sort of vibration. She flinched, remembering how she'd felt the same sort of vibration when the poacher had captured her and used a human vehicle to transport her somewhere.

She opened her eyes, narrowing them as she got used to light again, after being separated from it (willingly, though) for so long. It hurt, but she got used to it eventually. As soon as she did she looked around. The thing was brown on the inside, and had a large board in the front. The board was grey and had a bunch of things on it Tay couldn't even begin to describe. She shut her eyes again, unnerved by the vibration. _It feels wrong... I don't wanna be here!_ Tay suffered through the vibrating of the car for what felt like forever, but after that the rumbling stopped and Tay was carried somewhere else before being set down on a surface that felt incredibly familiar. It tickled her stomach, and smelled like something she hadn't smelled in ages. Tay opened her eyes again.

It was GREEN! All around her was a field of bright, fresh, green grass. She stood up, wobbling on shaky feet, and started to walk around. A slight breeze tugged at her golden fur. It brought with it a faint scent. Tay gasped slightly at the familiarity of the smell, and started to run in the direction it had come from, ignoring everything but her need to see the source of that smell.

As she approached a huge tree Tay didn't even pause. She used the momentum she'd built up from running and leapt into the tree, landing in a low branch. Nearby there was a pink berry that was mostly rounded but had a point on the bottom. She didn't bother picking it off the tree, more focused on just eating the food that reminded her of her parents. She finished it and moved on to another one, climbing further up the tree to eat more.

Something snagged by her ear; she pawed her ribbon off and left it hanging on a branch as she went towards another Pecha berry.

She didn't even notice when someone came into view.

Carol ran into the tiny clearing, having followed Ora when the golden Eevee ran off. She was met by a sight that filled her heart with joy. Ora was eating her way through all the berries of a Pecha tree, climbing around, moving more to get to the next berry than Carol had seen before. Eventually Ora finished stripping the tree clean, and settled into a nook higher up in the tree. She closed her eyes and obviously quickly asleep.

Carol smiled. She wanted to keep Ora; after all, she was a gift from her husband, but she simply couldn't bear to force suffering on anyone or anything. Unfortunately, it seemed that Ora simply couldn't be happy living in the city.

Carol turned around, looking back one more time at the sleeping Eevee before walking away, back the way she came.

Tay woke up, blinking the bleariness out of her vision as she tried to remember what had happened and why she felt so happy (a nearly foreign emotion to her). Slowly the events of the day before caught up to her as she leapt out of the tree. _Am I really... free?_ It was the first time she could more than just barely remember the experience of being truly free. She walked around, enjoying the experience of simply being free, not being restricted to one place, one tiny spot like a cage. It almost baffled her, the concept of 'freedom'.

After wandering for a while, she figured out what to do next. It was really faint, but she remembered her Mama and Papa, and she remembered when Mama told her to run, and that she'd find her later. _How long's it been since then? I kept getting in trouble, so I was moving for as long as I could before I was caught. Mama… Papa… I miss you…_

 **A/N:**

 **PsychicEevee: Well, that's that. Tay's been released into the wild and has a strange power that WILL BE EXPLAINED (eventually). Please please please review?**


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